Fodder sprouting systems, anyone? : Natural Feeding for Rabbits

I like the idea of this....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Small-Hydroponi ... 1e7321e2b3

Here the website for the lady that makes them...she also sells the plans for the system for $20....

http://www.half-pinthomestead.com/

I read a post on FB yesterday about sprouting. Take a mason jar, the metal ring, window screen/cheesecloth and the seeds. Place seeds in the jar, put the screen/cheesecloth under the metal ring, rinse the seeds and place in a sunny spot. Rinse the seeds every day.

I have not tried this but I'm going to

These are links that I have been pinning, some have some great ideas.
- http://pinterest.com/laurall21/feeds-sprouting/

3mina wrote:I read a post on FB yesterday about sprouting. Take a mason jar, the metal ring, window screen/cheesecloth and the seeds. Place seeds in the jar, put the screen/cheesecloth under the metal ring, rinse the seeds and place in a sunny spot. Rinse the seeds every day.

I have not tried this but I'm going to

That is basically what this is 3mina, but on a much larger scale....this setup grows enough to feed 25 rabbits on a daily basis.

OneAcreFarm wrote:

3mina wrote:I read a post on FB yesterday about sprouting. Take a mason jar, the metal ring, window screen/cheesecloth and the seeds. Place seeds in the jar, put the screen/cheesecloth under the metal ring, rinse the seeds and place in a sunny spot. Rinse the seeds every day.

I have not tried this but I'm going to

That is basically what this is 3mina, but on a much larger scale....this setup grows enough to feed 25 rabbits on a daily basis.

Ooohhhh.......me likey

OneAcreFarm wrote:That is basically what this is 3mina, but on a much larger scale....this setup grows enough to feed 25 rabbits on a daily basis.

It does???

What would you sprout?
How expensive are seeds for this?
Could this and salt be all you need?

I apologize, as I obviously haven't been paying attention. But you've got my attention now!

Miss M wrote:

OneAcreFarm wrote:That is basically what this is 3mina, but on a much larger scale....this setup grows enough to feed 25 rabbits on a daily basis.

It does???

What would you sprout?
How expensive are seeds for this?
Could this and salt be all you need?

I apologize, as I obviously haven't been paying attention. But you've got my attention now!

Great link with info about sprouted fodder....

http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/grow ... dder/72618

Most folks sprout wheat, oats or barley. The seeds are not that expensive, you can get a 50# bag for $10 or so at your feed store. You can feed fodder and add a mineral block and have a complete diet. Sprouting the grain raises the protein and fiber % and increases the amount of actual food by quite a bit. You feed 3-5% of the animal's body weight of fodder each day, so a 10lb rabbit would be fed 5-8oz of fodder a day. The 6 tray system makes 15lbs of fodder each day, or 240oz.

I like her suggestion to start sprouting the larger seeds (wheat, oats, or barley) and after the root mat is form, sprinkle on smaller seeds. That way, you don't lose the small seeds through the drain holes and have a nice mix of sprouts to feed.

I cannot afford her system but I might see about setting up something workable for my small homestead...the rabbits, chickens, and ducks would all enjoy it, I think.

That's really neat. I'd have a hard time keeping any place 60F in the wintertime.

Hmmmmm. . . Don't know whether it would work for us to go 100% to fodder, but I'm very interested.

Okay...after doing some research, here is what I have found for my situation/area:

1. TSC (Conway SC & Whiteville NC) carry whole oats at around $12-13 per 50lb bag. The only other whole grains they sale are "sweet feed" which would not work for fodder (both because of the corn and because of the molasses).
2. No other feed stores carry whole grains of any sort.
3. Mail order is extortionarily high once postage is included.
4. Through Sam's Club, I can order 50lb of whole winter wheat for a tad less than $50. This seems at the moment to be the only game in town for getting wheat to grow wheatgrass fodder.
5. Per a few websites, oat grass fodder is reasonably close in nutritional make-up to wheatgrass fodder. Does anyone know the nutritional data for fodder from wheatgrass, barleygrass, and oatgrass?

I had purchased several 10lb bags of "gourmet birdseed" from TSC which is wheat, milo, and millet. I'm going to conduct an experiment to see how well it "fodders". The bags were on sale for $5 per but normally run closer to $10. These may be a good option IF they grow into nice fodder.

Other options yet to be explored: the co-op in Wilmington and the HFS in North Myrtle Beach both have bulk organic winter wheat but that is likely to be too expensive for my purposes -- I may see if it is possible to get on their "oops" list for when grains are spilled and can't be sold to humans...

I think the best option is going to remain oatgrass supplemented with sunflower sprouts, lentil sprouts, mungbean sprouts (these are okay for rabbits, right?), and herbs and weeds and such...and the flax which they seem to be liking.